With the strike of the clock, we were ushered into the year of the Tiger. The bright fireworks filled the sky. The blasts of the fireworks drove all the past away. A tranquil sense of peace filled the place. The Lunar New Year is the biggest event in the Chinese calendar. In China, millions of people will travel back to where they came from. The hardship involved. The pain. The sufferings. All for that few days of meeting with families and friends.
What is the meaning of the Lunar New Year in our context. The Singapore context.
It seems that the atmosphere was thin. The celebrations are but obligatory. What Singaporeans looked forward to, is the rest days that awaits. A few days off from the mundane working life. To sleep in. To meet up with people. To watch television.
Hence, what is the real meaning of Lunar New Year? From ancient times, the Lunar New Year symbolized hope and anew. Where hatreds, disappointments, pains and sufferings of the yester-year disappears upon the lighting of the fire-crackers. A commencement party of a new year of farming. Where everyone is supposed to grow up by a year.
In modern-day China, the Lunar New Year shed new stories on the hardship of the people from the rural areas. We can see their tears when they failed to get any tickets. We can see their joy when they started to talk about their family, thousands of li away. They can stand for days. They have to brave the chill. They even have to wear adult diapers just to avoid going to the toilet and hence losing their "standing" place on the buses or trains.
For Singaporeans, let's just make Lunar New Year a special occasion to spend quality time with the family, the extended family and friends. Eat, drink, laugh, mahjong and television. Yea, please spend time away from the computer to do all that.
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